Bern

The figures start moving four minutes before the hour, not on it. Bears file round and a cock crows before the bell strikes, so arriving on the hour means arriving late. The gear train inside the tower is only seen with a guide.

Covered walkways run about six kilometres along both flanks of the old quarter, so rain needs no umbrella. Slanting cellar doors stand open along the pavement, so watching your feet is part of the walk, and many of those cellars are now bars or small theatres.

344 steps to the top of the tallest church tower in the country. Work began in 1421. The spire went on only at the century's end, so the stone changes colour partway up. The Last Judgement over the door survived the Reformation with its paint.

On the square in front, twenty-six jets come up out of the paving, one for each canton. They rise without a set order, so children run between them expecting to get wet. When no session is sitting the inside can be walked and there is no ticket.

The bear is the city emblem and has been kept here for centuries; in 2009 the animals moved onto an opened river slope instead of the old pit. They range over grass and trees to the water, so a visit can pass without seeing one. The bridge above overlooks it.

Much of Klee's work is on paper, so it is never all up at once. It cannot take light and is rotated every few months, so check first whether the piece you came for is on the wall. The building is a roof in three waves, shaped after hills, out among the fields.

A hilltop garden made over a cleared graveyard, so old trees stand among the rose beds, and this is the one place where the loop the river makes can be taken in at once. The restaurant fills at night, and plenty come up in the afternoon for coffee alone.

Two rooms where Einstein lived while at the patent office. The five papers of 1905 are said to be written at this desk, though the furniture is not the original but matched from photographs. The stair goes up inside the arcade, so the sign is easily missed.

A low quarter pressed against the river under the old town cliff. Getting up means stairs or the lift fixed to the cliff face, and the lift wants coins before it moves. Boatmen and craftsmen lived here, and a slang used nowhere else has hung on.

It runs one day only, the fourth Monday in November, with the stalls full from 4am. Plaited ropes of onion and garlic cover the middle of the city. By midday the paper confetti is ankle deep. Kitchens open before dawn that morning, so breakfast happens here.

Bern's home hill, reached by funicular from Wabern south of town. The top is a wide meadow facing both the Alpine chain and the city, and in July a music festival takes it over. Plenty of locals ride up near sunset carrying a blanket.

A free open-air pool on the Aare below the Federal Palace cliff. In summer people walk upstream along the bank, then let the current carry them back here. It runs fast: spot the railing steps first, and only strong swimmers go in.

Opened in 1879, it is Switzerland's oldest art museum holding a permanent collection. Hodler's Alps and modern European painting are strong, and in 2014 it made news by inheriting the Gurlitt collection. The station is just minutes away on foot.

Eleven painted figure fountains from the 16th century line the main streets of the old quarter. The one on Kornhausplatz, an ogre eating a child, draws the most stares. The water is drinkable, so people refill bottles as they go.

A walled medieval town on a lake west of Bern where German and French are both spoken. It is famous for the 1476 battle that routed the Burgundian army. Walking the ramparts costs nothing, and the lake shows over the rooftops.